Ebay buyer is out for revenge...

cd36uk

A bit of history first to make sense of it all: About a month ago I bought some cellophane wrap which I intended to use to make my daughter's 18th birthday present look extra special with . I bought some from an ebay seller, choosing them because they state they send items out promptly after payment received. After 6 days the wrap still hadn't arrived, so I emailed the seller asking when it was sent and they claimed it was sent the day after payment and that I should wait a few more days. A few more days passed and it still didnt arrive, I emailed seller again, stating that due to it being for a birthday I couldnt wait indefinately.
They got quite shirty and insisted that I wait for 14 days as that is royal mails rule on lost items. I gave up on that item....

I then bought some more from another seller (this arrived just 2 days later) and used it for purpose intended.
As the original order (with the first seller) had still not arrived I opened a dispute, the seller provided what was later discovered to be a false tracking number, and ebay found in my favour and refunded me. End of the matter...or so I thought.

A week or so later I decided to sell a dvd which I had bought a few days prior, had watched and decided I would not watch again and so listed it on ebay.
I made a point of checking the disc prior to packing and it was as new condition with no scratches.
The auction ended, I had stated on the auction that I would send the DVD within 3 working days of payment.
The auction ended on a saturday night. On Monday I receive a abrupt email asking me where their dvd was, I sent it the following day (2nd working day after payment) recorded delivery, as I sensed this person was going to be trouble.

Then 2 days on I get an email from ebay saying the buyer has opened a not as described dispute, claiming there is a 'long and deep scratch' across the dvd.
I knew they were lying obviously and alarm bells were ringing in my head, so I began to do some investigating and found out that the seller (of the cellophane wrap that never arrived), and the buyer of this dvd were the same name and address, just different ebay user names. This is clearly a case of tit for tat/ revenge.

From the many stories on the internet I have read ebay always favours the buyer regardless of the lies they may tell. I have also read horror stories of sellers getting empty packages sent back to them so that the buyer can provide proof of sending something back and getting a refund.

I am worried that the buyer will either damage the dvd and send it back therefore making it worthless to me, or send an empty package and ebay will force me to refund them. Either way its win win for the buyer.

So all things considered should I stand my ground and see what ebay decide when it gets escalated, or should i take my chances and ask for it to be sent back before it gets to that stage?

Strapped

I once had someone in similar circumstances buy something from me to leave negative feedback. They used a different address, but only one street away and it was obvious it was them. eBay investigated, removed the neg and sanctioned the "buyer". They didn't ask to return the item though, so can't say what may happen there.

I think you're obligated to agree to a return, and you may find they don't send it - or you may indeed get it back with a big scratch. Remember to be polite in messages etc as eBay will look at them carefully when there is any "trouble" and you want to be squeaky clean.

Chalk it up to experience, and get yourself a different account for selling stuff from now on.

hermum

I would get onto ebay & tell them you think that the buyer bought to cause trouble, it can't do any harm & may mean that the case will be found in your favour.

chemical.galaxy

Yes definitely report the member for malicious buying and feedback manipulation.
It worked for me last time it happened and I had a false positive removed along with the attached low DSR's

cd36uk

hermum wrote: »

I would get onto ebay & tell them you think that the buyer bought to cause trouble, it can't do any harm & may mean that the case will be found in your favour.

the frustrating thing is I have contacted ebay 3 times (2 emails and 1 phone call) regarding this, but all I get is the bog standard email reply which completely ignores the particular situation and just advises me to add them to my blocked bidder list, but who knows how many usernames this person has, so far I know of two but there could well be more. And on the phone the response I received was that 'ebay look at dispute cases fairly'...which is in contrary to the many stories I have read online where ebay side with the buyer no matter what.

cd36uk

chemical.galaxy wrote: »

Yes definitely report the member for malicious buying and feedback manipulation.
It worked for me last time it happened and I had a false positive removed along with the attached low DSR's

Good to hear of a seller getting the right/fair result, I just hope I can be as lucky.
I'm kicking myself that I didn't recognise the address prior to sending out the dvd, I could of saved myself a lot of stress had I done so, and would of simply refunded the buyers money and cancelled the transaction.

brettcta

cd36uk wrote: »

Good to hear of a seller getting the right/fair result, I just hope I can be as lucky.
I'm kicking myself that I didn't recognise the address prior to sending out the dvd, I could of saved myself a lot of stress had I done so, and would of simply refunded the buyers money and cancelled the transaction.

doing that's crusin' for a bruisin'. the only way to cancel the transaction is to hope for a mutual, which, with a shitty buyer, isn't likely. you're open then to receiving a neg.

cestlavie

good luck. malicious buying once happened to me and i subsequently linked 4 ebay accounts to one person - and learnt i wasn't the only one who had been scr**ed over by them. ebay couldn't care less despite proof and accounts are still open and still f***ing other ebayers

verityboo

OP, it wont help with your current problems but if you sell in future it would be best to open a second ebay account so you have one for buying and one for selling. This is allowed and they can be linked to the same Paypal account.

cd36uk

verityboo wrote: »

OP, it wont help with your current problems but if you sell in future it would be best to open a second ebay account so you have one for buying and one for selling. This is allowed and they can be linked to the same Paypal account.

Yes I intend to do that in future but as you say will not help me now, shame that some have to spoil things for the rest of us.

cd36uk

cestlavie wrote: »

good luck. malicious buying once happened to me and i subsequently linked 4 ebay accounts to one person - and learnt i wasn't the only one who had been scr**ed over by them. ebay couldn't care less despite proof and accounts are still open and still f***ing other ebayers

To quote my daughter this person is a 'loser and a saddo' for doing this. It has made me very wary of buyers now, up until now things had run smoothly.